Opinion: President Trump is breaking with Obama’s policy of appeasing Iran

by Boris Epshteyn, Chief Political Analyst

(Sinclair Broadcast Group)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Boris Epshteyn formerly served as a Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign and served in the White House as Special Assistant to The President and Assistant Communications Director for Surrogate Operations.

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - The Iranian people are protesting against their government again. The discontent appears to be economic as well as political, raging against an oppressive regime.

President Trump is taking a much tougher stance against the Iranian government and in backing the protesters than President Obama did throughout his term.

Appeasement. In one word that is the policy that the Obama administration followed in Iran. According to a recent in-depth report by Politico, Obama officials blocked the efforts by us law enforcement to bring to justice murderers, drug dealers and gun traffickers associated with the terrorist group Hezbollah. Hezbollah is closely related to, and largely funded by, the rulers of Iran.

It seems that President Obama did not want to jeopardize the nuclear deal negotiations, which he viewed as his legacy, by aggressively going after Hezbollah criminal activity.

President Obama also chose to stay in good graces of the Iranian regime when he was muted in his response to the popular uprisings in Iran in 2009.

President Trump has been vocal on Twitter and through other administration statements in supporting the protesters in Iran. United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has called for an emergency meeting of the un security council and human rights council to discuss ways to support the Iranian people in their quest for freedom from oppression.

Here is the bottom line: appeasement as a foreign policy doesn’t work. We want Iran to stop funding terror which threatens our soldiers abroad and safety at home. Realistically, the only way that will actually occur is by isolating the current regime and making it clear to the Iranian people that the regime has to change.